CSB/SJU Greens Constitution

9/29/04

Article I: Name and Purpose

Section 1: The club shall be named “CSB/SJU Greens”

Section 2: The purpose of this club is to encourage students to grow politically by promoting Green-centered politics including environmental awareness, peace and justice, third party and under represented politics, college politics, Grassroots democracy, and community based economics.

Section 3: The club will not officially be associated with any other organization, but will be in contact and cooperation with both nation-wide campaigns of Campus Greens and College Greens.

Section 4: The CSB/SJU Greens agrees to follow all rules and regulations designated by Saint John’s University and the College of Saint Benedict as mentioned in the J-Book and The Every Woman’s Guide.

Article II: Membership

Section 1: Full memberships will be available to all students of CSB/SJU. All full members have voting privileges. Associate membership will be available for all non-students within the CSB/SJU community. Associate members have full speaking privileges, but not voting privileges.

Section 2: A student can become a full and therefore voting member by attending two consecutive meetings. In order to remain a member, one must attend 75% of all meetings and functions unless the absence is excused by the executive board.

Section 3: A member with poor attendance or acts with negligence or belligerence which act to hinder the club; he or she can be called to a membership hearing. Any one member can file a complaint to the executive board with regards to any other member. The executive board must discuss and come to a conclusion about the validity of the complaint within two weeks of its presentation. The executive board then makes the judgment as leaders if the complaint is legitimate. If the complaint is against a member of the executive board, he or she can not be involved in the complaint process. If the executive board finds the complaint to be valid, it will then move to the full body of the club. The club must address the complaint within 2 weeks of it being passed from the executive board. The complaint will be read by the president (or the vice-president if the complaint is against the president). This will be followed by a defense from the “accused” of the complaint. He or she will then be asked to leave while the rest of the club debates and then comes to a conclusion with regards to removal. Removal occurs when at least 2/3 of members vote in favor of removal. The removed member then has one week top appeal the decision. He or she will notify the president of the appeal. The appeal will go directly to the full body of the club. The club then has two weeks to address the appeal. The process will start with the removed member explaining the nature of the appeal. He or she then leaves the meeting and members will debate and then vote on whether or not to reinstate the member, to be reinstated, there must be a vote of ½ plus 1.

Article III: Officers

Section 1: All officers must be fulltime undergraduate students of CSB/SJU and be in good standing with the university.

Section 2: The officers of the club are as follows: two Co-Presidents, treasurer, and secretary.

Section 3: The duties of the officers are as follows:

Co-Presidents- Set meeting dates and times, chair meetings, act as a primary leader to the club, act as a primary liaison to CSB/SJU, Joint Club Board, and any outside organization that can help the club, finding and reserving meeting space.

Treasurer- Keep all financial records, submit monthly audit statements to Co-Funding Board (CFB) contact, act as a primary contact to CFB, legislate and present all funding requests to the CFB.

Secretary-Create and distribute all agendas, record the happenings of all meetings, and distribute minutes of all meetings to the members.

The four officers collectively act as the executive board to the club.

Section 4: If any officers vacate, there will be an election for the vacated seat.

Section 5: The process of removal of officers is the same as it is with all other members and is addressed in Article II Section 3.

Section 6: The appeal of removal of officers is the same as it is with all other members and is addressed in Article II Section 3.

Article IV: Elections

Section 1: Candidates will be nominated by any member of the club, including themselves and the voting will take placer at that same meeting after a brief statement has been made by the candidate.

Section 2: Elections will not be secret, as they will be done by a role call vote of all members present for each individual position. Elections will be held once every year. These elections will be in the spring for the coming academic year no later than April 30th. There is no limit on terms one can hold as an officer as long as they follow all other guidelines of the officers mentioned in Article III Section 1.

Section 3: If a position is vacated, the club will hold nominations as in Section 1 at the next meeting. The election will then follow all election guidelines and will take place at the next meeting after the nomination meeting.

Article V: Advisor

Section 1: The club will choose on an advisor by compiling a list of desirable candidates and contacting the top candidates. If the candidate is not available the club will move to the next person on the list. The advisor would be an administrator, faculty member, or other employee of CSB/SJU as described by the JCB guidelines. The advisor will be chosen every year during the month of April for the following academic year.

Section 2: The advisor would be present at many club meetings and functions. He or she would lend advice to the club on all issues and give different perspectives that students could possibly not otherwise see.

Article VI: Meetings

Section 1: Meeting will be held as often as needed, but at least once a month. The president will notify all members of meetings and activities by campus email.

Section 2: Special meeting will be called whenever the president or a majority of the executive board deems it necessary for any reason. These meetings will be run the same as any other meeting.

Section 3: Meetings will be run by following an agenda. The agenda can be amended at the beginning of the meeting. All members then stay on topic to the issue which pertains to that part of the agenda. There are no speaking terms. Decisions will be voted on and will need a vote of ½ plus 1 unless otherwise specified.

Article VII: Committees

Section 1: The club will not have various committees. Projects will be done by the volunteering of members. Members will work together on the various projects as they come and go.

Section 2 Ad-hoc committees may be assembled by the executive board or the full club if they deem necessary. They would be formed to work on long term projects such as campus ecology.

Article VIII: Funding

Section 1: The club will apply for funding from the CFB on a regular basis and will then follow all guidelines laid out by the CFB.

Section 2: There will be no honorariums or stipends for any members of the club; this includes officers.

Section 3: There will be no membership dues.

Article IX: Amendments

Section 1: The constitution can be ratified if any member puts the item on the agenda at the beginning of the meeting, or earlier by contacting the secretary. It will then be an item on the agenda and can be voted on like any other decision.